


Juice

by birdramblings



Category: Death Note & Related Fandoms, Death Note (Anime & Manga), Death Note (Movies), Death Note: Another Note
Genre: AU, M/M, Underage Drug Use, lawliet and beyond are twins, maybe some L and Misa, no one is dead, potential lawlight?? not sure yet lmao, why? because i wanted to
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-31
Updated: 2017-03-31
Packaged: 2018-10-13 07:49:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10509453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birdramblings/pseuds/birdramblings
Summary: "The first time Mihael Keehl met Mail Jeevas was the exact moment when he realized that his life wasn’t going to get much better than this."Death Note AU





	

**Author's Note:**

> tw: underage drug use, cursing, mentions of abuse

The first time Mihael Keehl met Mail Jeevas was the exact moment when he realized that his life wasn’t going to get much better than this. At first, he fought- he didn’t want to room with the new kid, didn’t want or need a friend (because at the orphanage they pushed him, wanted him to fall into line like every other godforsaken child there, and normal looking Mail would help him do just that) and at the tender age of ten, Miheal’s outlook on life and his future wasn’t bright, it was nothing. His future consisted of reading all the books he could until he eventually died (or was kicked out, same thing) or, when he was feeling particularly cheerful, when he was able to burn the orphanage to the ground. The appearance of eleven year old Mail Jeevas just added another victim of the house’s already long list of people that would probably be dead before eighteen.

Wammy’s House for the Gifted was laid out in the outskirts of London, an ugly building from World War 2 that miraculously survived multiple bombings and multiple gangs- until, of course, Quillish Wammy had the brilliant idea of turning it into an orphanage for abandoned children that were too dangerous to be put into the normal, wonderful foster homes of England (Miheal had been in two homes. He had lasted about a week in each.) The orphanage only consisted of two hundred children- ages ranging from five to sixteen. No one made it past sixteen at Wammy’s. The oldest wards consisted of two- Lawliet and Beyond, twins and inseparable freaks of nature (or science, Miheal was convinced that Wammy probably did something to make them that way) and as they were turning seventeen this year, they would soon be gone, leaving Miheal with a house full of borderline filth and kids that would rather fight each other than do anything productive (yes, Lawliet and Beyond were freaks and very likely future murderers, but they weren’t afraid to be around him, and that made them worth something.)

Mail Jeevas wasn’t worth anything. He was just another kid that would eventually fear or hate him, and so he wasn’t worth the effort to get to know or acknowledge. He was just a kid that would be sharing the same space as him (which was annoying as fuck because Miheal would have to start sleeping with clothes on, because who knew how much of a freak Mail would turn out to be.) The room was already small enough with only a dresser and two twin beds, with a solitary window with iron bars crossed over it and a crack in the ceiling that would leak when it rained. It wasn’t great but it was Miheal’s, and so Mail’s arrival was very much unappreciated. The only people allowed in there were the twins (and occasionally Linda, when she was in the mood to not try to rip out his hair) but to the other inhabitants of Wammy’s, his room was a danger zone that only the stupid would dare venture into. 

“I want you to show Mail around, Miheal” Rodger said, sitting behind his large oak desk with his hands clasped like he was already praying for mercy from the inevitable. 

“Have Talia do it.” Miheal answered automatically, staring past Rodger’s balding head and outside the window. 

“I want you to do it, not Talia. You’re his new roommate, so you should get to know each other. I want you two to get along.”

Always orders with Rodger, never requests. The threat was obvious- get along, or get suspended.

“You know I don’t get along with new kids.” Miheal said, and glared down at his feet. “He’ll be scared or some shit, you know that.”

“Miheal,” Rodger snapped, “I have- we have given you multiple opportunities to fix your attitude. There are plenty of children that would love to occupy your space here. You need to make this work, or there will be issues. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.” Miheal grumbled, his fists clenched. This was not the first time that he had been threatened with expulsion- and with nowhere else to go, it was either Mail or a correction facilitation. 

Mail Jeevas was really starting to make his life more difficult than it had to be.

****

“What the hell is up with the goggles?”

Mail had red hair- he had freckles, he was scruffy and dirty, and he was tall. He was in every sense one of them- a perfect fit for Wammy’s, with his freaky goggles and too big clothes. He looked like he was starving. He probably was. 

“What’s up with your hair?”

Miheal was surprised. Okay, maybe he was a little more than surprised. Upon meeting him, Mail seemed like a quiet wimp who probably liked killing small animals and spying on people. He didn’t, however, expect him to actually talk back to him.

The entire tour of Wammy’s ended after a very long five minutes, when Mail very seriously announced that if Miheal didn’t shut the fuck up about how awful everything was, then he would quite possibly be forced to punch him

Miheal of course, swung first (because Rodger be damned, no one- especially not the new kid- told him to shut the fuck up).

Mail walked around with a broken nose and Miheal with a black eye and a cut on his face for the next month, but from that moment on, it was quickly decided that Miheal didn’t quite hate Mail as much as he hated everyone else at the decrepit orphanage. If someone could stand up to him, he guessed, then maybe that person deserved his attention.

****

It had been four years since Mail had first come to the orphanage, and Lawliet was dead. 

Supposedly dead, Miheal always said, because there was no way that Lawliet would get himself fucking killed by some rando on the streets, high or not. Anyway, Beyond was with him. No one fucked with Lawliet when Beyond was around (not that anyone ever could fuck with Lawliet, because he was surprisingly strong and sadistic as hell when he wanted to be, and really, it would be much more believable if they were told that he had murdered someone.) But Rodger had informed all of the children left at Wammy’s that at the young age of 20, L Lawliet had either OD’d on cocaine or had been stabbed by someone for the cocaine that he had on him ‘at all times, because he was a junkie’. Either way, it had to do with drugs, and so the lesson concluded with “Never Do Drugs Because You’ll End Up Like Our Beloved Lawliet, Dead And Ugly”. 

Miheal never really cared about drugs- Mail smoked cigarettes, and while Beyond and Lawliet were still here they smoked weed when they could, but other than that, his addiction of choice was either chocolate or shitty vodka stolen from Rodger’s office. The night after Lawliet’s death was announced however, Mail was very determined to at least smoke some weed once in memory of their deceased friend, and managed to rope Miheal into joining him on the account that chocolate would taste extra good and amazing after a couple of hits. The weed came from Linda and the pipe from Nate (which was concerning in and of itself because how Nate had found Beyond’s lost pipe was beyond any of them). The price was sharing and inviting both Linda and Nate to the official, unofficial memorial of L Lawliet. Mail didn’t mind, and Miheal didn’t like Nate enough to not be bothered, but their joined affection towards the maic sixteen year old that they once knew was enough to bring them all together in Nate’s room.

“This stuff is rank, Linda” Matt complained, and passed the pipe and lighter to Miheal. “How much did you fucking pay for this shit?”

“The only person who will sell anything to me is Higuchi, and he’s sketchy as fuck to be willing to sell weed to a couple of orphans. Don’t complain.” Linda said hazily under their combined smoke, leaning against Nate’s bed and tapping her fingernail against the hardwood floor.

“As long as it gets us high, who the fuck cares?” Miheal coughed, and passed the pipe to Nate, slowly sinking so that his head rested on Mail’s shoulder. “Pass me the water. This is gonna fuck up my lungs.”

“Smoking marijuana is actually better for you than smoking cigarettes.” Nate answered slowly, curling a finger around a lock of his white hair. “And it has medicinal properties as well. Overall, weed is really quite pleasant.”

“Better for you than cocaine, that’s for sure.” Mail laughed, and ignored the sloppy punch to the arm, and Miheal’s narrowed glare. 

The room was quiet for a relaxed minute, all four of them dazed and content.

“He isn’t dead, you know.” Miheal said lazily, closing his eyes and pressing his cheek into Mail’s shoulder a little harder. “The cocaine was just a scare tactic. He isn’t fuckin’ dead.”

“It would be more likely that Rodger made up the story.” Nate agreed, and tugged on his hair. “If anything, Lawliet might be in jail for drug possession. I can’t see him getting caught, but Beyond could be reckless at times.”

“You think that Beyond and Lawliet stayed together?” Linda asked him, “They were always fucked up in the head, but Beyond more so than Lawliet. I always thought that maybe he would want to leave that behind once he left Wammy’s.”

Mail and Miheal snorted, a small smile forming across Nate’s face. 

“Beyond would never leave. Even if Lawliet wanted to, I doubt he could outrun his twin. They were always quite inseparable.”

“Remember that one time when Lawliet stopped talking to Beyond for a week? He was maic as fuck. I think the only reason why Lawliet stopped was because he felt bad.” Mail shook his head, and grinned. “I almost miss them. They were weird and dangerous as hell, but they weren’t stupid.”

“We’ll see them again. I bet they miss us as much as we miss them.” Miheal smiled, and laughed. “Well, as much as one could possibly miss a couple of fucked up kids.”

****

“I’m leaving.” Miheal announced on a rainy Tuesday afternoon, hands curled into fists and a wild look in his eyes. 

Mail stared at him blankly, the sounds of his video game continuing in the background.

“When?”

“Now.”

Mail looked back at his video game.

****

“I got a letter from Beyond,” Miheal had said before he left, tearing through their room with a fervent determination, empty candy wrappers fluttering to the floor as he went. “He and Lawliet want me to come live with them Los Angeles. He sent me a plane ticket.” Miheal had never been one to stop and wait, and as his sixteenth birthday came closer and closer, the opportunity to finally leave outweighed the possibility of only finding worser things in America.

Mail had silently watched him pack, eyes hidden behind his goggles. He knew there was only one plane ticket in that letter. 

“I’ll send you a letter once I get there, okay? And then you can meet me there and we can all live together.” It was an empty hope with even emptier promises, and Mail didn’t know which was more depressing- that Miheal genuinely believed that Mail would be joining him, or that the fifteen year old would really be able to get him there. 

Mail wasn’t fifteen anymore. He was sixteen. And by the time that Miheal had saved up even a little bit of money, Mail would be gone.

“I’ll see you there, Mels.” He had said, trying to sound indifferent. 

Miheal left. Mail smoked his last pack of cigarettes until his chest ached.

**Author's Note:**

> (At this point Mels is 15, Matt is 16, Near has just turned 15, and L&B are both 20)
> 
> ngl this shit isn't gonna be fun and or happy?? but i love me some M&M angst lmao
> 
> not quite sure how long this will be, but there will at least be three chapters. my dn tumblr is httpmisa.tumblr.com !! 
> 
> feel free to leave me some kudos, follows, or reviews <3


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